Duck. In my mind it’s so French. You’ll see it on menus all over France. And it’s the ideal ingredient to cook with when you want to Frenchify your day. But, here’s the thing about duck. It’s not the easiest poultry to work with. It has a reputation for being both a touch fancy and […]
The Distant Francophile Blog
445 posts
Squee!!! I’m super excited for this post. Why? Because I get to update you on the success of Planches & Plonk! Planches & Plonk is the dream business of our friends Graham and Damon. Graham and I got to know one another years ago when we started blogging at around the same time. When Scotty […]
In the words of the renowned story-teller Meatloaf…. ‘I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday…’ I’m talking about the day that we decided to go to France. Scotty finally agreed to travel to France. I’d been working on becoming a Francophile for around 7 years by then. (If you haven’t read […]
In the seven year history of Distant Francophile, one post has stood out clearly as the most popular. Since it was posted in 2015, it’s had far more views than any other. Curious to know what francophiles and travellers are keen to learn about? Champagne. And specifically our do-it-yourself visit to the Champagne region. Now, […]
You’ll probably think I’m slightly bonkers when you read this. But I knew I was a francophile before I knew what a francophile was. Mmhmm. I know. That makes no sense at all. I was in my late twenties and, at the time, working in retail banking. An elegant woman had sauntered into our Williamstown […]
I have to tell you, my heart skipped a beat when I first heard about the upcoming release of a book titled Provence Style – Decorating with French Country Flair. You see, the concept of Provence Style took me straight back to my earliest Francophile days* when I first read Peter Mayle’s A Year in […]
Have you ever had a hobby or a passion that you suddenly fell out of love with? What about a thing that you’d done consistently for a long time and then just stopped? Well, that’s what happened to me over the past six months. After adoring France and everything French for almost 15 years, one […]
In good news, we’ve come out of Covid lockdown here in Melbourne, Australia. In not so good news, friends and loved ones in Europe and the UK have been thrown into the same situation we recently emerged from. To anyone enduring restrictions today, know that Scott and I are thinking of you, and sending you […]
Ok. So it’s taken a while. But my optimistic spirit has finally come to terms with the fact that we won’t be visiting France this year. It will be the first year in over a decade that we haven’t made at least a flying visit to France. You see, after we fell in love with […]
Well, the Melbourne Covid lockdown looks set to continue for longer than we might have hoped. I guess that means I’ll just have to keep reading about France rather than travelling there! And that’s where memoirs have a certain appeal. If I can’t see France through my own eyes, I can at least enjoy French […]
Well, I don’t know if it made news in your part of the world. But our home base of Melbourne, Australia went into stage four lockdown last week. After a few short weeks of freedom, we landed back in stage three isolation about three weeks ago. Unfortunately, Covid-19 case numbers continued to rise, and we […]
Ever since I was a kid, the thought of travel has inspired me. And in the last few years, the countdown to trips has kept me engaged with both my day-job and my side passions. So what does a human with permanent wanderlust do when Melbourne’s ‘return to lockdown’ takes travel off the table? (I […]
It dawned on me the other day that I’d been feeling a little bit out of sorts. Not unwell. But certainly not my sparkly best. It didn’t take too long for me to work out what was going on. I was bored. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given the isolated situations we’ve all found […]
Is it just me, or does anyone else love the idea of perfectly curated box of French goodness arriving on your doorstep at regular intervals? I’ve been fascinated by the concept of subscription boxes for some time. I love the thought of a nice surprise landing on the doorstep. Like when you receive a gift […]
I was heart-broken earlier this week when I learned of the passing of my dear friend and mentor, Alisa Bearov Landrum. Alisa hadn’t been well for many months. But that did nothing to reduce my shock and immediate grief when I picked up the sad message from her husband Charles. A devoted wife, mother and […]
Is it just me, or is anyone else allowing themselves to do a little French travel planning? I have the feeling that it will be a long time before Australians are able to travel anywhere. Let alone as far as the northern hemisphere. But that isn’t stopping me from having a little think about where […]
Thankfully, there are parts of the world coming to the chapter of this Covid story where things are starting to open up. Some of us are can leave home for more than an hour a day. Others are able to visit with a limited number of family and friends. There are even some parts of […]
I’ve been writing on my two websites – Distant Francophile and Janelle Wehsack Coaching – for a long time now. Yet this week is the first very first time where one blog post suits both audiences. To be honest, it’s not often that French style and career confidence cross over. And oddly, we have Covid-19 […]
From my perspective, the fact that more of us are cooking at home is one positive that’s come from this rather nasty situation. All around the world, the Covid -19 crisis is changing the way we live our lives. But cooking at home always requires some level of inspiration. And often that inspiration is difficult […]
So, I’m probably understating it when I say we are living in unprecedented times. The devastating impact Covid-19 has been having on families the world over is almost too horrific to be believed. Some of us are in lockdown at home, others are choosing to self-isolate and so many of us are grieving. For loved […]